AIO Placement

davelenham · 7 Jun 2020 at 17:54

Hi,

I have the Lian Li Lancool 2 case and the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 240 AIO.

Where would be the best to put the AIO and in which configuration?

robj20 · 7 Jun 2020 at 17:59

davelenham said:
Hi,

I have the Lian Li Lancool 2 case and the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 240 AIO.

Where would be the best to put the AIO and in which configuration?

Best for what, CPU temps? CPU temps then you'd want it at the front as an intake, but that would increase GPU and system temps.

davelenham · 7 Jun 2020 at 20:33

robj20 said:
Best for what, CPU temps? CPU temps then you'd want it at the front as an intake, but that would increase GPU and system temps.

CPU temps ideally. This is what I have ordered
My basket at overclockers uk:

1 x Lian-Li Lancool II ARGB Midi-Tower Case - Black= £82.99
1 x Gigabyte Radeon RX 5700 XT Gaming OC 8GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £419.99
1 x AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £289.99
1 x MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £129.95
1 x Arctic Liquid Freezer II High Performance CPU Water Cooler - 240mm= £79.99

This is my 1st time using an AIO as the CPU cooler and also having to consider the placement of fans for cooling. As the case comes with 3 120mm fans was thinking of using 1 as an exhaust fan at the rear and the other 2 up top as intake. Any recommendations would be helpful!!

PieEater · 7 Jun 2020 at 20:48

I wouldn't put intakes on the top given hot air rises so you will be fighting against this. I would have the front as 2 x intakes, the radiator on the top exhausting out and the rear as an exhaust.

Zeebedy · 7 Jun 2020 at 20:50

PieEater said:
I wouldn't put intakes on the top given hot air rises so you will be fighting against this. I would have the front as 2 x intakes, the radiator on the top exhausting out and the rear as an exhaust.

This is my setup. 3 intake, rad on top and extraction on the back, and the three Lian-Li fans that come with the case seem pretty decent too.

jsbombjack · 7 Jun 2020 at 20:52

Depending on workload, I would prioritise gpu temp personally, as with an aio most processors will run at a reasonable temp anyway. So clean intake in the front, aio on the roof with exhaust fans on it.

Depends on your usage of course, and just an opinion.

Kelt · 8 Jun 2020 at 10:00

PieEater said:
I wouldn't put intakes on the top given hot air rises so you will be fighting against this. I would have the front as 2 x intakes, the radiator on the top exhausting out and the rear as an exhaust.

This is how I have my AIO and case (1x200 in front) set up.

Never had a problem with temps.

TheVoice · 8 Jun 2020 at 11:33

I have my 240mm AIO on the front as intake, one 120mm fan on the rear for exhaust. Never had issues with temps or noise.

doyll · 8 Jun 2020 at 12:17

'Hot air rises' has no effect in our cases. Even with no fans air movement is minimal. Case would need to look like a chimeny (small footprint and tall) to create decent airflow. Even the worst fan easily makes 'hot air rise's moot. I would put radiator in top as exhaust.

Nice case! Good looks with lots of funtionality.

I would put radiator in top with front full of intake fans, high pressure rated fans. I would suggest 280mm radiator, but then it would flow more air then front intakes could supply and dust would likely leak in any openings.

SonicSW20 · 8 Jun 2020 at 12:20

PieEater said:
I wouldn't put intakes on the top given hot air rises so you will be fighting against this. I would have the front as 2 x intakes, the radiator on the top exhausting out and the rear as an exhaust.

Hot air does rise, but that effect is insignificant compared to the flow from the fans. The air will go where the fans push it.

PieEater · 8 Jun 2020 at 14:16

SonicSW20 said:
Hot air does rise, but that effect is insignificant compared to the flow from the fans. The air will go where the fans push it.

The idea is to get rid of the heated air as quickly as possible if you have exhaust fans at the top you are working with the natural process of the heat rising and extracting it efficiently. If you have intake fans at the top you are working against this process and pushing heated air back towards the components you want to cool.

pugheaven · 8 Jun 2020 at 14:43

PieEater said:
I wouldn't put intakes on the top given hot air rises so you will be fighting against this. I would have the front as 2 x intakes, the radiator on the top exhausting out and the rear as an exhaust.

Exactly this, always have you top as extracts if using rads imho. It's how I;'m building my rig at the moment. Rear extract fans as well so you get that "flow".

doyll · 8 Jun 2020 at 14:51

Ideally we want case filtered intakes to be flowing a little more air in than exhaust fans are pulling out so a little air leaks out keeping dust out rather than dusty air leaking in through all openings, even through things like USB sockets making them dirty and over time possibly failing.

SonicSW20 · 8 Jun 2020 at 14:54

PieEater said:
The idea is to get rid of the heated air as quickly as possible if you have exhaust fans at the top you are working with the natural process of the heat rising and extracting it efficiently. If you have intake fans at the top you are working against this process and pushing heated air back towards the components you want to cool.

Yes, I understand the theory. The flow generated from a fan will vastly overpower that though, to the point where it is irrelevant. The air will go where the fans push it.

doyll · 8 Jun 2020 at 15:21

Idea is to have fans moving cool air into,through case and out of case with as little turbulence as possible. Less turbulence means less chance of cool air mixing with heated component exhaust on it's way out of case. With air cooling eachdegree warmer air is entering cooler becomes same degree hotter component is (at same load and fan speed).

PieEater · 9 Jun 2020 at 13:44

SonicSW20 said:
Yes, I understand the theory. The flow generated from a fan will vastly overpower that though, to the point where it is irrelevant. The air will go where the fans push it.

It's not irrelevant, cases are not designed to extract heated air from the bottom. Just because you can force heated air towards the bottom of the case it doesn't make it a good idea if it doesn't have anywhere to go. Unless you have sufficient open vents and extract fans at the base of the case you're going to end up with a build up of heated air which is exactly what you don't want and what cases have that? Plus the fans will need to be spinning faster and louder in order to move the heated air with sufficient force to expell it from the bottom of the case.

doyll · 9 Jun 2020 at 14:09

Also CLCs should have radiator fitting end above level of waterblock/pump so any air in system stays in top of radiator and not in pump. Because air in pump makes noise, lowers flow rate and will eventually cause pump failure.

merlin6r · 9 Jun 2020 at 20:45

I'd definitely mount it at the top, blowing out. Having it intake at the front will give you lowest CPU temps but you're blowing warm air in.
Exhausting at the top means you are getting the warm air out, I know it's warmer air that's then going through the rad, but the cooler will cope fine with that and it's good for the whole system.
Front intake is keeping the CPU coolest but at the expense of everything else...

Shazzer2406 · 9 Jun 2020 at 22:19

Set it up as followed and you will not be disappointed, 140mm fan intake front, rad on top intake (always have rad as intake, cool air in cools rad, warm air out warms rad, obvious right?) Rear exhaust fan. I've tried a few different set ups and this is the best but it's defo case dependant

Mishap · 10 Jun 2020 at 03:49

davelenham said:
Hi,

I have the Lian Li Lancool 2 case and the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 240 AIO.

Where would be the best to put the AIO and in which configuration?

I have the 280 version and its mounted at the top as an exhaust, with 3 intake at the front and 1 extra at the rear for air flow. No issues with temps, the Artic is a cool customer.